Stoke & Staffordshire

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  1. 🎧'Transfer deadline day madness for Stoke'published at 20:30 BST

    Media caption,

    A Cold Wet Tuesday Night: 'Transfer deadline day madness'

    The latest episode of BBC Radio Stoke's A Cold Wet Tuesday Night podcast is out now.

    Matt Sandoz and Lucas Yeomans reflect on a hectic transfer deadline day for Stoke City and analyse the club's business throughout the summer window.

    They also discuss the 1-0 win over Norwich City in the Championship.

    Listen above or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

  2. Stoke improve despite Thomas exitpublished at 11:03 BST

    Mark Elliott
    BBC Radio Stoke’s Stoke City Commentator

    Luca Bombino celebrates on his debut for Stoke City after defeating Norwich City for their first win of the seasonImage source, Shutterstock

    Stoke City began life without Sorba Thomas in the perfect way, recording their first win of the season and putting in a defensive performance reminiscent of the better parts of last season.

    Thomas has been their main attacking outlet over the past year and his departure brought about a change in formation and a need for greater variety going forward.

    While there were teething problems for the 3-4-3 Stoke deployed in Tuesday's 1-0 win against Norwich there was plenty to be optimistic about too.

    Having had barely any time to work on the change in system, Stoke were aggressive in their press when Norwich tried to play out from the back and resolute when they dropped into a low block.

    While the team became stretched at times and lone striker George Hirst found himself isolated a little too often, there were times when they were able to get bodies forward in numbers, push the wing-backs high and cause the visitors problems.

    Ethan Galbraith looks like a brilliant signing. He's so effective in possession in tight areas, helps the team build from deep and scored his second goal of the young season with a fine driven shot from the edge of the box.

    Luke Graham put in his best performance of the season as he gets used to the rigours of the Championship after making the move from the Scottish Premiership, while American full-back Luca Bombino put in a debut full of quality and personality just a day or two after arriving in England.

    Afterwards, captain Viktor Johansson said the win felt like the start of Stoke's season, and there was a palpable relief along with an outpouring of emotion from all in red and white at full-time as they recorded a much-needed first victory.

    That win relieves some of the pressure that was building on players and staff, and with new signings still to integrate, another win against Charlton on Saturday would definitely leave the Potters looking up.

  3. Stoke 'deserve enormous credit' - Robinspublished at 00:25 BST 2 September

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    Robins: ‘We are going to be alright, going to be good’

    Stoke City manager Mark Robins admitted the "turbulence" around deadline day - and the sale of star man Sorba Thomas - threatened to overshadow their Championship game with Norwich.

    Instead, the Potters, who had not won a league game since April, took the honours with a 1-0 win.

    "We had to grind a win out somehow and we managed to do that, with a really well worked goal," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

    "We looked a threat on the counter-attack. They had loads of possession but as we know in this division it doesn't matter about possession.

    "We needed to get a clean sheet and win a game and it didn't matter how we did it.

    "Obviously there's a lot of turbulence around deadline day, so the lads deserve enormous credit for the way they've dug in and got the first three points.

    "The confidence can start to come from that."

  4. Listen to Praise and Grumble deadline day specialpublished at 18:33 BST 1 September

    BBC Sport's transfer deadline day graphic. Transfer is written in white on a black box, deadline is written in black on a yellow box and day is written in white letters on a black box. The words appear on top of a yellow patterned background.

    BBC Radio Stoke's Lucas Yeomans hosts a transfer deadline day special to discuss the business done by Stoke City, Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra.

    The show, which runs from 22:00-23:00 BST, will offer the latest updates and analysis.

    Listen to it here

    Subscribe to Praise and Grumble on BBC Sounds